Barcelona manager Hansi Flick receives La Liga best coach award for the first time this season – Report | OneFootball

Hansi Flick has another piece of recognition to show for FC Barcelona’s strong domestic run, and this one feels well earned. After guiding Barca through a perfect month in La Liga, the German coach has now been named the league’s best coach for March.

According to Mundo Deportivo, La Liga will hand Flick the monthly award after Barcelona won all three of their league games in March. The report says Barca beat Athletic Club, Sevilla and Rayo Vallecano, making it a flawless stretch in domestic competition and enough to see Flick come out on top in the final vote ahead of Diego Simeone and Luis Castro.

What makes the story slightly surprising is that this is Flick’s first monthly coaching award of the current season. Despite keeping Barcelona at the top and building one of the strongest home runs in the league, he had not collected the prize earlier in the campaign.

Previous monthly winners this season have included Xabi Alonso, Eder Sarabia, Inigo Perez, Marcelino, Manolo Gonzalez, Matarazzo and Pellegrini. From a Barcelona perspective, that only makes this one feel more fitting. March was the kind of month that showed what Flick has gradually built: a team that can win in different ways, handle pressure and keep collecting points even when performances are not always spectacular.

At the same stage of the previous campaign, Flick had already won the monthly award three times, in August, October and February, before eventually being named the best coach in the entire competition. He was also the only coach to win the monthly award more than once that year.

Flick has perhaps had an even better second year as manager, but the surprise factor wearing off seems to have cost him a few awards. Right now, it is almost expected that the German manager will do well with Barcelona.

Ultimately, Flick will not care much about any of this if Barcelona go on to lift the La Liga title for a second straight year. We will have to wait and see how things play out.